Spirit Day Special: Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus

In 186BC, Queer people in Rome and Italy faced discrimination and violence from the Senate in the form of the Senate's Great Decree on Bacchanals. 

The decree banned the formation of Bacchic societies and the practice of the Mysteries throughout Italy.

In the wake of the crisis thousands of Romans and Italians were hunted and executed by the state. It was a dark time for Queer people in Rome, but it was not the end of Queer people in the Republic.